Virtual Influencer Signs With CAA

In a plot twist I wasn’t expecting this soon, automation is fast encroaching on the influencer economy.

The world’s most prominent virtual influencer, Miquela, has signed with CAA as the talent agency’s first virtual client, Variety reported Wednesday. If you’re not familiar with her, Miquela (aka “Lil Miquela”) is a CGI digital avatar with 2.2 million Insta followers and 550,000 TikTok followers.

• Miquela has already partnered with Samsung, Prada, Calvin Klein, and YouTube.
• In 2018, Time named her one of the internet’s 25 most influential people.
• The self-proclaimed “change-seeking robot with the drip” has used her platform to advocate for social causes.

Miquela is the product of LA startup Brud, which bills itself as “a transmedia studio that creates digital character-driven story worlds.” She’s got competition: With 1 million Insta followers, fellow virtual influencer Knox Frost recently partnered with the WHO to raise donations for the coronavirus battle.

Zoom out: Generative AI could enable more interactive, conversational virtual influencers.